Delivery of services provided to customers of a network is becoming more competitive as the number of service offerings increases. Many service providers provide telephone services, Internet access, video services, other appropriate services, or any combination thereof to customers. These services may be provided to the customer's premises via a packet-switched network.
Content corresponding to the services can include streaming broadcast video content, video on demand, telephonic data for telephone calls, files (including documents, digital pictures, etc.), or the like. The order in which packets are delivered and reassembled at the customer premises may or may not be a significant problem. For example if packets are dropped and resent for a file, the downloading of the file may be slower, but the contents of the file will be complete when the download is completed. If a packet is dropped during a telephone call, the person listening to the other party speaking may assume that the other party paused for a fraction of a second when talking.
Unlike other content, streaming broadcast video content, such as that provided by Internet Protocol Television, is significantly more sensitive to proper transmission of packets. The customer experiencing the streaming broadcast video content is more likely to notice the problems as compared to other content delivered over a packet-switched network.
Currently, a relatively manual process is used to deal with problems related to a video transport system used for a packetized video content. For example, the customer can call a customer care center. After interacting with the customer, the customer service representative can generate a ticket for the condition that the customer is experiencing. The customer service representative may need to classify the condition so that the ticket can be routed to one or more appropriate areas. For example, the ticket may be received by a network administrator to check the network connections that could affect the streaming broadcast video content being sent to the customer premises. Alternatively, or in addition, a technician may be dispatched to address a video ready access device that is located in the field, to the customer premises, or both.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar or identical items.